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PRESIDENTS ELECTED FROM 

NEW YORK 



"When Cleveland Was Governor'' 



BY 

WILLIAM GORHAM RICE 

State Civil Service Commissioner 



[Subject headings for cataloging this pamphlet: 
Presidents Elected from New York," "New York State and the Presidency," 
"Presidential Election of 1884," " Grover Cleveland"] 



Reprinted from the State Service Magazine for April 1918 



ALBANY 
THE STATE SERVICE MAGAZINE COMPANY, INCORPORATED 

1918 



WHEN CLEVELAND WAS GOVERNOR 

Story of the exciting days in Albany in 1884, after the State's chief executive 
had been nominated for president by the Democratic convention at Chicago 

By WILLIAM GORHAM RICK 
Stall Civil Servia Commission?) 



William Gorham Rice, author of this article, was a 
secretary to Governor Grover Cleveland. He was inti- 
matel) cognizant of the events going on in the executive 
chamber at that time and is in a position to relate many 
interesting incidents preceding the presidential election of 
1884, when Mr. Cleveland was first elected president of 
the United States. The controlling influence of New York 
State in national politics was well illustrated in the ascend- 
ancy to public life of Grover Cleveland, who rapidly rose 
from being sheriff of Erie county to mayor of Buffalo and 
governor of New York. This brought him into national 
prominence in a few years. Colonel Rice gives some elec- 
tion figures which will not fail to attract attention in this 
and other states during this gubernatorial year, when can- 
didates for the presidency are certain to be brought into 
the limelight. — Editor. 




l\ 



ii am i i:ii ham Ria 



A T I O N A L 

pa rt y con - 
ventions, 
both Demo- 
cratic and Republican 
have always specially 
considered the m er i t 
and ii t n e s s of New 
York men for the 
presidential nomina- 
tion Gubernatorial 
experience in New 
York a true service record has almost 
inevitably given its possessors a preferred 
rating and often has put such governors at 
the head of the lisl As a result, the 
assembled delegates on ten different occa- 
sions have selected <>ne who was then, or 
previously had been, governor of New York 
a- the best qualified leader of his party. 
Five turn s the governor thus chosen has won 
in a presidential election following, [ntei 
i i in everal of these elections in which 
New York governors were national candi- 
dates rose to a fierce intensity after the polls 



closed, for the result of the campaign con- 
tinued in doubt for many hours. What the 
outcome would be was uncertain once until 
almost the very hour of the presidential 
inauguration. 

This last was the prolonged Tilden-Hayes 
contest in J 876, which began while Tilden 
was governor in the old capitol. Eight years 
later came the stirring Cleveland- Blaine con- 
test, with Cleveland as governor, the execu- 
tive chamber being then, as now, in the 
present capitol. The Roosevelt-Parker con- 
test of 1904, the Wilson-Roosevelt-Taft con- 
test of 1912. and the Wilson-Hughes contest 
of 1916. each again brought the record of a 
New York governor under scrutiny, for 
Roosevelt and Hughes both had shown dis- 
tinguished administrative ability in their 
occupancy of the office of governor. An I 
looking into the near future one does not 
need to be practiced in presidential hor< >sc< >py 
to perceive the stars of 1920 giving predic- 
tion that the present chief executive of New 
York will bear a commanding part as the lines 
of the next presidential campaign are formed. 

Two other governors besides those already 
mentioned are also to be recalled as associ- 
ated with the presidency. These are Martin 
Van Buren and Horatio Seymour. Governor 
Van Buren, twice nominated for president 
as the candidate of his unified party, was 
successful m 1836 but lost the election in 
1840. Again nominated in ISIS, but this 
lime as the courageous protest candidate of 
the "tree soil" third party, again he was 
defeated. Governor Seymour, though in the 
years from 1853 to 1865 lour times a candi- 
date lor the governorship, and twice elected 






191 



STATE SERVICE 



to that office, nevertheless was defeated for 
the presidency in 1868. losing to General 
Grant. 

No New York State man has ever been 
elected president of the United States unless 
he has previously served as governor. It 
would seem also that, without exception 
such successful candidates from this State 
have shown in the office of governor charac- 
teristics which appealed definitely to inde- 
pendent political sentiment outside of party 
lines. By these characteristics they drew to 
themselves the large unattached vote which 
always has existed in the Empire State., a 
vote which has been a deciding factor in not 
a few elections, both in the State and in the 
nation at large. Study of the vote for 
presidential electors indicates clearly that 
Van Buren, Tilden, Cleveland, and Roose- 
velt all gained the support of this unattached 
or independent element. 

My story here is to concern itself par- 
ticularly with 1884, when Mr. Cleveland 
was governor. Elsewhere, and particularly 
in the Century Magazine for June, 1912, and 
in the NortJi American Review for January, 
1914, I have spoken of these events. more in 
detail, and have recorded additional facts 
which may have at least some minor his- 
torical value. 

I went to the Democratic convention at 
Chicago in 1884 T prepared to answer ques- 
tions about the record of Governor Cleve- 
land, because as a secretary in the executive 
chamber,. I knew what he had done in legis- 
lation, what appointments he had made, and 
what opinions he had expressed. While he 
was one whose rugged integrity showed more 
and more in office, one whose record has 
come increasingly to give him a place in our 
history as a great American, his early polit- 
ical advance was due to the far-seeing 
discrimination and untiring effort of a small 
group of men who thoroughly believed in 
him. The words, " Public office is a public 
trust," defined his character to them even 



before he had become governor. Nor did he 
fail as a high office holder to exemplify that 
sentiment as a rule both of faith and practice. 
In these words he affirmed a measure of duty 
and set a standard which definitely elevated 
political life throughout the United States. 

That Cleveland's was an ever-increasing 
hold upon public sentiment would seem to 
be indicated by his constant popular major- 
ity. However, notwithstanding his increased 
popular majority, he failed to receive in 
1888 a majority of the electoral vote, for 
Harrison then gained the presidency. In 
1884 Mr. Cleveland's popular majority was 
62,683; in 1888 it was 98,017; in 1892 it was 
380,810. In passing it may be noted that 
Tilden, though not seated in. the presidential 
chair, had a popular majority of 250,935 
over Hayes in 1876; that Roosevelt had 
2,545,515 over Parker in 1904, and that 
Wilson's popular majority over Hughes in 
the last election was 591,385. 

Analysis seems to prove that Mr. Cleve- 
land's ever-increasing vote came chiefly from 
independent sources, for substantially always 
and everywhere his vote was greater than 
that of his party associates who were candi- 
dates in the same election. Tilden, Roose- 
velt, and Wilson appear likewise to have led 
their tickets. 

Neither bis nomination for the presidency 
in 1884 nor the canvass affected Governor 
Cleveland. It was, in fact, a source of con- 
tinued surprise to us in the executive chamber 
to see how, during the summer and autumn 
of 1884, he fulfilled with his usual care and 
patience his daily duties at Albany. He 
determined pardon applications; he investi- 
gated public health complaints; he considered 
personally the many prosaic matters that 
make up the routine work of a governor. 

Several times during that summer he went 
fishing for a day. There comes clearly to 
my mind one morning when the governor 
and Daniel Manning, then president of the 
National Commercial Bank and proprietor 



STATE SERVICE 



of the Albany Argus, started off for such a him, he was always calm and well settled as 
trip. Looking from the executive chamber to his course. His candidacy made little 
into the street below, I saw the fishermen as change in his accustomed life. His speech 
they came from the capitol and walked of acceptance was delivered on a bright July 

day, at the executive mansion, to the 
national committee of notification 



together down State street. Cleve 
land, by the way, always used 
the private entrance and stair- 
case to the executive chamber, 
then conveniently existing. 
The future president and 
his future secretary of the 
treasury both wore large 
Panama hats; their shoul- 
ders were broad and they 
had much the same ample 
generosity of waist meas- 
ure. There was indeed a 
pervasive atmosphere of 
rotund jollity atout them 
both, which it is a pleasure 
to remember. With the 
cares of state and care- of 
business laid aside they were i iff 
for a day of enjoyment. Nor w ere 
they afraid to show it. Just where 
they went that morning, I do not 
know. Possibly it was for a fore- 
noon to be spent with Seth Green 
on the island below the city, with a planked 
shad dinner at noon, or possibly for a whole 
day of fishing on Lake George. 

Later the governor took his usual vacation 
in the Adirondack^. Saranac lake was then 
his destination, and his friend. Dr. Samuel 
B. Ward, of Albany, was his companion. 
Paul Smith, too, of North Woods' lame, often 
found his way to the good-fellowship of the 
cam]), which was not far from the Smith 
domain. 

All through the 1884 campaign Governor 
Cleveland spenl his time chiefly in the large 
room of the executive chamber. He met 
there and advised with those who called 
upon him from all parts of the country; he 
sought no one; he saw freely everybody who 
came. In the political excitemenl about 




Groti i Cleveland in 1884 
when he was govt rnoi and 
a candidate f oi president 



and a score of other guests. 
Among these guests was the 
very charming girl, Miss 
Frances Folsom, of Buffalo, 
who two years later be- 
came the mistress of the 
White House. Mr. Cleve- 
land's acceptance speech, 
his later letter of accept- 
ance, and two brief ad- 
dresses, one in New Jersey 
and one in Connecticut, 
constituted virtually all his 
extended formal public ut- 
terances during the presiden- 
tial campaign. In fact, he went 
out of the State only twice, and 
then but for the few hours re- 
quired to make the Newark and 
Bridgeport speeches above referred 
to. Mr. Cleveland, painstaking, 
deliberate, unversed in political 
manoeuvers, and comparatively unknown, 
in many respects besides that of speech- 
making, was the antithesis of the brilliant 
secretary of state, the experienced cam- 
paigner, the shrewd party manager, and in- 
timate of great business interests, Mr. 
Blaine, the candidate of the opposing party. 
Alter a campaign perhaps unequalled in 
party heat from beginning to end, interest 
suddenly intensified, flamed up after the 
polls had closed, and centered upon the vital 
question whether Blaine or Cleveland had 
carried New York State. To which side 
would the balance go? If in the one direc- 
tion. Democracy, after its long exclusion 
from power, would be triumphant in the 
nation; it in the other. Republicanism would 
remain dominant. At once remembrances of 



STATE SERVICE 



the prolonged 1876 controversy became There was no telegraph wire at the executive 
vivid. Again the country was confronted mansion that night, and the telephone had 
with the danger of a disputed title to the gone out of commission in a rain storm, which. 



presidency. Again the possibility even of 
civil war came to men's minds. 

Mr. Cleveland, after voting in Buffalo 
early on election day, returned to Albany. 
For the evening he invited a very few 



as the hours progressed, became almost a 
deluge. Messengers were the only means of 
contact with the outside world. 

In this situation I decided to go to the 
Albany Argus newspaper office, hoping to 



intimate friends to receive the returns with get definite figures upon which to form a 



him at the executive mansion. The gover- 
nor's house, while in the same location on 
Eagle street as now, was at that time a much 
smaller affair, the main drawing-room on the 
north having been added, and many other 



judgment. Arrived at that office, I began 
before long to obtain from the working press 
wire fairly exact, though fragmentary re- 
turns. Assembling these partial totals, I 
soon found myself at variance with the gen- 



enlargements made during Governor Hill's eral opinion that New York State had given 
seven years' administration. Among the Mr. Cleveland a large majority. My con- 
friends there November 4th, at the beginning elusion was based upon a maintained per- 
of the evening were: Governor Cleveland's centage of majority shown by the continued 



sister, Mrs. Hoyt, the adjutant-gen 
eral and Mrs. Farnsworth and 
Miss Farnsworth, Mrs. Isaac 
Vanderpool, Justice Rufus H 
Peckham, Charles B. An- 
drews, Edgar K. Apgar, and 
Colonel and Mrs. Lamont. 
Later, Eugene T. Cham- 
berlain, Charles Tracey, 
John Boyd Thacher, A. 
Bleecker Banks, and Dr. 
Samuel B. Ward came in. 
Mrs. George Evans and 
Mr. Lawrence Turnure 
were there also for a brief 
time. Mrs. Hoyt or another 
sister, Miss Rose Elizabeth 
Cleveland, was always with 
Mr. Cleveland at the executive 
mansion during the time he was 
governor. 



building up of exact figures from 
more and more election districts, 
both in cities and in rural 
communities throughout the 
State. This method of figur- 
ing to early determine the 
trend of election returns 
is-now well known, but in 
those days it was not so 
often used. Nevertheless 
it was one which I had 
worked out in previous 
elections with marked suc- 
cess, and one with which 
Colonel Lamont was con- 
versant. 
The detailed figures 
shower! the drift constantly 
favorable to Mr. Cleveland. Yet 
the percentage of majority was so 
Daniel Manning, sem- slight that it indicated that he had 




Soon after the polls closed con- > ( "- v °J " ,c " eas,ir y "" der carried the State by only about 
gratulatory telegrams began to Presidmt Ckvek ""' 



pour in at the executive mansion. Many of 
these dispatches and friendly newspaper 
bulletins asserted that New York State had 
gone for Mr. Cleveland by many thousands. 
But very few detailed figures were received. 



2,000. This rather startling de- 
duction I wrote out, with totaled district 
figures sustaining it, and sent it about eleven 
o'clock, by special messenger, to Colonel 
Lamont, who was still with Mr. Cleveland 
at the executive mansion. The situation 



STATE SERVICE 



immediately became a subject of careful con- 
sideration there by four or five men who had 
been in particularly close touch with the 
contest in New York State. 

Soon after midnight, Apgar, Tracey. La- 
mont and one or two others and I met and 
began to send duplicates of a form telegram 
to two or more prominent party associ 
in virtually every county of the State, 
urging them to call to their assistance at 
once vigorous and courageous friends, and 
to see that every vote cast was honestly 
counted. We signed this telegram with the 
name of Daniel Manning, chairman of the 
Democratic State committee, though he was 
not present. 

With more time at my disposal, I should 
probably be able to refresh my memory from 
various sources and record more of the names 
of those to whom this telegram went. At 
present I think of the following: Daniel 
Magone, in St. Lawrence county; 0. U. 
Kellogg Cortland; Francis ' ynde Stetson 
New York; Alfred C. Chapin, Kings; William 
Church Osborn, Putnam; Smith M. Weed, 
Clinton; (i. H. P. Gould, Lewis; Jeremiah 
\Y. Finch Warren; Robert Hamilton, Wash- 
ington; W S, Waterbury, Saratoga; Daniel 
G. Griffin, Jefferson; Wilson S. Bissell Erie; 
James Shanahan Montgomery; Samuel A. 
Beardsley, Oneida: Robert A. Maxwell, 
Genesee; William A. Beach "Billy" 
i li. ( 'nondaga; Ward Gregory. Tompkins; 
Samuel J. Tilden, Jr., Columbia; Henry A. 
Reeve- Suffolk; Alton B. Parker. Ulster; 
Samuel J'. Benedict, Schenectady; and David 
B. Hill, Chemung. D-Cady I Lerrick fulfilled 
this request in Albany county. 

Later, early in the forenoon of Wednesday, 
telegrams to other representative citizens of 
the highesl standing asked them to go to the 
clerk'- office in their respective counties, to 
remain there until the n turn- were filed, and 
then to oi it; i in certified copies ol such returns 
and -end these copies without delay by 
special messenger to \ll>am Thus gradu- 



ally semi-official returns were assembled at 
the executive chamber and Mr. Cleveland's 
majority was more accurately known there 
than anywhere else. The exact majority 
determined finally by the State canvassing 
board in the following December was 1,047. 
When the executive chamber tabulation 
of detailed returns covered the whole State, 
and Mr Cleveland was satisfied that the 
Is told the truth, he sent to Edward 
Murphy, of Troy, this telegram: 

I believe 1 havi > elected pn lent, and nothin 
the grossi si frau I i in keep me out of it, and that we will 
ni >1 permit. 

This declaration was bulletined throughout 
the country. 

But it was not until about 10 o'clock in 
the morning of Friday. November 7th, the 
third day after the election when the man- 
ager of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany, Mr. F. W. Sabold, came himself to 
the executive chamber and delivered into 
Mr. Cleveland's own hand a message received 
• a cleared special wire, that the situation 
was relieved of doubt. I remember well the 
arrival of Sabold and his saying that he had 
a message of the utmost importance which 
he could give to Mr. Cleveland only. This 
was the message that he brought: 

i,i ernor Clevei and: 

1 heartilj i ou oi our eli ction. All 

■ i li thai your administration as governor has been wist 
and conservative, and in the lai I 

thai you will do still better, and that the vast business 
interests ol the country will be entirely safe in your 
nan Is. 

.1 \v Goi ii' 

Coming from one of the most conspicuous 
of his opponent'- supporters from one whose 
control of the Western I'nion Telegraph 
Company gave him unusual opportunities 
for information, from one who had continued 
until then to claim Mr. Blaine's election it 
satisfied Mr. Cleveland that the contesl was 
i iver and the victory won. 

\iier readme this telegram, Mr. Cleveland 






STATE SERVICE 



handed it to me, and said: " Well, Rice.. I 
guess it is time to write our Thanksgiving 
Day proclamation. Where is your little 
book? " The little book was " Synonyms 
and Antonyms," by Bishop Fallows. Mr. 
Cleveland had some time before discovered 
this upon my desk, and he made use of it 
many times. Thereupon, at his desk, the 
same large one that now occupies the center 
of the executive chamber, he wrote with his 
own hand, dating it the next day, when it 
was to be issued, the proclamation 
beginning : 

The people of the State of New Yori 
should permit neither their ordinary 
occupations and cares, nor any un- 
usual cause of excitement, to divert 
their minds from a sober and hum- 
ble acknowledgment of their depen- £ 
dence upon Almighty God for all 
that contributes to their happi- 
ness and contentment, and for 
all that secures greatness and 
prosperity to our proud common- 
wealth. 

This I have always 
considered his first writing 
after he felt assured of the 
presidency. 

Subsequently Mr. Cleve- 
land gave me the Jay Gould 
telegram and the original draft of 
the Thanksgiving proclamation, as 
mementoes 6f those eventful days 
when he was governor. 

This chapter of my story cannot be con- 
cluded better than with some words con- 
cerning the count in New York State, spoken 
to me late in October, 1912, at Princeton, 
by Mrs. Cleveland: "You and I know," 
she said, " the presidency would have pos- 
sessed no interest for Mr. Cleveland had he 
felt there was the remotest taint upon his 
title." 

When Mr. Cleveland began to consider his 
cabinet and other important matters, letters 
came to him in great numbers. Some letters 




Last photograph of M> 

CI: r. Iniirl tah ii iii 1908 



were serious; some were amusing. Some 
asked office; some gave advice. Some were 
congratulatory, some denunciatory. They 
ran through that whole gamut of sentiment 
which correspondents, known and unknown, 
pour out upon every occupant of high public 
office, and particularly upon a president- 
elect. One group of these was most curious. 
The writer of them was a newspaper man of 
high reputation and of wide acquaintance 
with Washington life. He called on Mr. 
Cleveland at Albany soon after elec- 
tion, and when he left, stated he 
would send from time to time 
information about public men, 
un signed, but in his own 
handwriting. Thereupon 
there began tc come a 
daily envelope containing 
unsigned cards of conven- 
ient form for filing. These 
cards treated of nearly 
everybody proposed for 
the cabinet, of distin- 
guished visitors announced 
in the public press as on 
their way to Albany, and 
f well-known men generally 
who might be commended for 
office themselves or might ask 
office for others. There was a sep- 
arate card for every person, and 
his good points were written in red 
ink while discreditable facts and 
undesirable characteristics appeared in black. 
Thus each card embodied a concise record 
of the deeds and a keen estimate of the 
character and influence of the man named 
therein. Giving as they did an incisive, 
impartial, and I believe, upon the whole an 
accurate analysis of those about whom they 
were written, they presented a comment of 
unusual wit and wisdom upon American 
national politics. The point of view was 
that of an experienced and able observer of 
current events, and the whole record made 



STATE SERVICE 



a kind of judgment day book of men of both 
parties conspicuous in national affairs; in 
civil life and in the army and navy. 

It can readily be imagined that not a few 
visitors who came to see Mr. Cleveland were 
surprised at the knowledge of the political 
affiliations of prominent men shown by the 
the supposed unsophisticated president-elect. 

Mr. Cleveland continued as governor 
until the next meeting of the legislature, 
when, again at the large central desk in 
the executive chamber, and again with 
his own hand, he wrote out this shortest 
message on record: 



To the Legislature: January 6, 1885. 

I hereby resign the office of governor of the State of 
New York. Grover Cleveland 

Here was no pointing with pride; no glori- 
fication of self nor laudation of party; only 
the laying down by a man of simplicity and 
truth of one place of public service to take 
up at the call of his country another and more 
arduous task. His quality was recognized 
when Lowell gave to him the words of Pal- 
inurus, the pilot of /Eneas: " Jove, you 
may save me if you will, you may sink 
me if you will, but come what may, I will 
keep my rudder true." 



N< )TES 



I 



Millard Fillmore of New York became president through 
the death of Zachary Taylor. Chester A Arthur of New 
became president through the death of Jam 

i ,, I rheodore Roosevelt ol New York became 

president, first, through the death of William McKinley, 
ubsequently became president bj election No\ 
[904. 



ful candidate to call to himself the vote ol independent 
political sentiment outside party lines. In late 
Cleveland, Roosevelt and Wilson are examples of candi- 
dates for public office who have gained the support of 
the independent vote [Albany Knickerbocker /'■ 
Editorial, April 14. 1918 



In the April number ol State Servk e, \\ illiam Gorham 
Rice, who was a secretarj to Governor Grover Cleveland, 
has writ ten an excellent and interesting article in which he 
calls attention to the fact that national party conventions, 
Democratic and Republican, have always specially con- 
sidered the ment and fitness of New York men for the 
a! nomination. He calls attention to the fact 
that on ten different occasion- one who was then, or 
previously had been, governor of New York Stale was 
nominati l foi the presidency, and that five times the 
governor thus chosen had won the al election. 

The fai I referre 1 to bj Mr. Rice is worth; oi 
the necessitj i ngfo 



In State Service Mr. William Gorham Rice, who had 
experience in secretarial service in the Executive olhce at 
Albany from 1883 to 1889, writes ol New York nominees 
for president. Ten times a governor or forme'. 

governor ol New York has been nominated for president. 
five times elected president. "NoNewY< - man." 
Mr Rice tells us. " has ever been elected president of the 
United States unless he lias previously served as governor. 
It would seem, als >. that, without exception, such sui i 
ful candidates have shown in the office ol governor 
characteristics which appealed definitelj to independent 
cal sentiment outside ol party hues." New 
Editorial, April 17. 1918.] 



